Fubnace constbuction



Feb. 16 1926.

H. A. ATWATER FURNACE CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 16, 1922 2 SheGtS-ShOOt l INVENTOR W a. Y wfii ramr IIIIIIIII I l I l I l I ATTORN EYi Feb. 16 1926.

H. A. ATWATER FURNACE CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 16. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet &

f .wax mwww, a W

INVENTOR- a. awn/11w firfi/Ww ATTORNEYS.

. Patented Feb." 1 6 1926.

ries.

nanny A. ATwArnn, on Kansas CITY, MISSOURI.

FURNACE cons'rnvcrioiv.

a ii aii fl ed January is, 1922. serial No. 529,696.

To all whom it may concern: I

Beitknown that I, H RRY A, ArwA rnR, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Kansas City, Jackson County, Statehof Missouri, have invented a certaini ew and useful Improvement inQFt irnace Qonstr c:

tion, of which the following is a complete specification, 7

.Ehe present invention relates to furnaces, and aims to provide a novel construct-ion having various features of improvement as regards thefeeding of the air required for supporting the combustion and the preheating of such air, and also-the construction and arrangement of the, floor of the comb-us 1 tion chamber to produce a more effective combust on ELIICl't-ISMISIIHSSIOH of heat to the incoming air, as well asan efficient drainage of any excess fuel where a-liqu d fuel is being used.

To this end, I have vdevised ac furnace structure in. whichv an air-feed passage is provided-and the-flow of the. incoming air so conducted as to subject it to thepreheat-' ing action of increasingly; hotter portions of the floor of the combustion chamber 3 throughout the course of such air through said passage to the poiit of discharge into the combustion chamber, In its course through the passage I further provide 7 means for subdividing the flow of air at intervals in sucha manner that a more uniform travel of the air is effected than is the case where a single unmodified current of air is moving through an air-feed conduit.

I have also vdevised an improved floor construction for the combustion chamber; of

the furnace whereby a more efiectiveicomhustion ismaintained .bv virtue of the floor being pitched at a certain-anglefor the purpose of utilizing the reflective properties of the floor for throwing back the heat in the direction of the fuel-feed compartment andthus heating this compartment at a most efiicientxtemperature.

fuel is being supplied to the furnace, and for such fuel the floor is made liquid-tight 'to prevent the fuel from leaking through.

and burning or damaging other parts of the furnace structure. vised a floor construction of not only a simple and comparativelv inexpensive type, but one which will promote the trans mission of heat therethrough to the a l This pitcher I slope of the furnace also facilitates the proper drainage of the same n case a l qu d I have further debeneath and thereby maintain an: efficieiit preheating act-ion.

With these general objects in View, the

invention willimW be described by reference to the accompanying drawings .illustrating one form of construction which I have devised for embodying the proposed 7 improvements, after which the novel features therein Will be particularly set forth and claimed. n I 1 In the drawings- Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view,

illustratin a furnace structure embod-v in 2D b the present .iiiiprovei ients, and representing a section taken on the, line II' ofli'Fig 11192; v

' Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view, representing a section taken on'thev line IIII of Figure 3; W l f Figure 3 is a vertical seCtionalviewQrepresenting a section'taken on the line III-J11 of Figure 2; and

Figures 4 and 5 are sectional detail views, taken on the lines 'IVIV and V-V, re-

nal interengaging tongue and groove flanges 16, 17 respectively (see F gure 4), a set of supporting angles 18 being arranged for carrying the outer edges of the plates around the walls 11, 12, and alsoat intervals transversely across. intermediate portions of the floor, as shown in F gure l. This type of construction provides a floor which readily transmits heat from the combustion chamber to the spacebeneath the floor which is -u tilized for preheating the air'supplied to the-combustion chamber as hereinafterexplained, and also affords a liquid-tight flooring wh ch prevents said liquid fuel from leaking through, and the slope of the floor facilitates proper drainage of any en cess or unburned fuel from the combustion chamber. Forthis' drainage, a channel or conduit is made froni suitably formed sheet metal 21 secured to those edges of the plates 15 which. surround the air-feed opening 22 through the floor beneath the fuel feed or burner compartment 23 formed by an arch 2% supported at'an angle similar to the inclination of the floor of the combustion chamber 12. The channel 20 extends transversely along the rear margin of the opening 22, and thence inclines forwardly along one side of said opening, cross strips 25 being used to stiffen and brace the metal forming the channel (see Figure 5). An outlet pipe 26 drains the channel or conduit 20 to the exterior of the furnace.

' The air space beneath the floor of the combustion chamber is partitioned to provide air-feed passages similarly arranged at opposite sides of the middle longitudinal line of the furnace, for conducting and also preheating the air required to be supplied to the combustion chamber in the operation of the furnace. This partition structure comprises a pair of vertical partitions 30 extending longitudinally from the front wall 11 and terminating some distance short of the rear wall, where both partitions 30 are joined to a transverse partition 2-31 between the side walls 10 of the furnace. Thus an inlet air passage 32 is formed between each of the side wa ls l0 and one of the partitions 30, an air intake opening 33 being provided in the front wall 11 for each of said passages 32. Across each passage 32 is arranged a vertical partition 23 i provided with a plurality of openings 35, and the partition 31 is similarly provided with a plurality of openings 35, the function of which is to subdivide the incoming air into a plurality of streams and thereby cause the whole current of air to travel a more even or uniform rate. Both passages 32 communicate with a transversepassage S6 at the rear of the partition 31, and from there the air is again passed through openings 35 in the middle portion of the partition into a central passage 37 between the longitudinal partitions 30, and which conducts the air to the opening 22 communicating with the burner compartment By this means the incoming air is caused to pursue a course, as indicated by the arrows in Figure 2, in which the air is subjected to the preheating effect of successively and increasingly hotter portions of the bottom face of a combustion chamber floor. This gradual increase in the heating action on the air takes place throughout the course of the air to the burner compartment, since it is aoparent that the side margins of the combustion chamber floor are relatively cooler, and the rear portion of said floor (in the illustrated arrangement) is at a higher temperature, while the temperature of the middle portion is still higher and increases to a maximum in the vicnity ofthe burner compartment 23.

F or the purpose of illustration, 1 show a type of oil burner 40 within the fuel-feed compartment 28, although it will be understood that the furnace structure is equally well adapted for use with any form of liquid, gaseous or finely-divided form of fuel, and also for burners in either single or multiple form, with the air-feed passages adapted to suit any required arrangement of the burners.

It is thus apparent that I have devised an ellicient and practical construction for carrying out the desired objects of the invention. A distinct advance is mane over prior constructions using openings at various points in the combustion chamber floor for obtaining the required air circulation, which allows the liquid fuel gathering on the floor to drip through and then burn fiercely below the floor, doing serious damage by burning out surrounding parts of the furnace structure. The liquid-tight flooring here in described overcomes this defect while fulfilling all the requirements as regards the circulation of the air. The structure of the flooring itself is also a decided improvement, in that it comprises practically single layer of refractory material which promotes the transmission of heat to the surface beneath as required for the efficient preheating of the air supply, and the slope of the floor, in addition to its liquid-tight character, facilitates the proper drainage of any oil collecting thereon and the removal of the same by way of the channel 20 which discharges into the outlet pipe 26.

Another equally important function which characterizes the slope or pitch of the floor of the combustion chamber is its capacity for reflecting the heat away from the rear end of the combustion chamber toward the burner compartment for maintaining the latter at an eilicient high temperature, and the arch 24 is correspondingly pitched in order to accentuate this effect. lt is well understood that the zone around the burner, for obtaining the most effective combustion, must be maintained. at the highest temperature practicable, because of the great absorp tion of heat incurred in the vaporization of the fuel, and theabove described construction,.including that for regulating the flow of the air supply, is carefully designed to not only reflect toward the burner compartment but also guard against any loss of heat from the burner zone for air-preheating purposes. Accordingly, the flow of the air is so controlled as to gradually heatit first from the relatively cooler portions of the combustion chamber floor, and thereafter ring up its temperature by conducting it across surfaces that are increasingly hotter as the air approaches the point of discharge into the burner compartment. This is the most eiiicient method of preheating which could be adopted for the purpose, since it obviously follows substantiallywhat is known l as the counter-current principle of heat exchange or absorption.

In this connection an improvement of considerable advantage is made by subdividing the flow of air in the air passages or conduits by means of the openings in the transverse partitions, which has the effect of intermittently separating the main air current into a plurality of separate smallercal conditions as regards both the general movement Of,tl16 air and also the preheat ing effect thereon, Which would be of a non-uniform character. Attemptshave been made to correct this disadvantage by. pro.

viding separate conduits, with the result of only increasing the trouble, due to the great ly increased friction introduced, andthe obstructing of the air flow as well as the ransinission of the heat, from the combustion chamber floor. In the present case, it-

is found-that this control ,of the movement of the air, combined with the efficient pre heating thereof, and also with the above described forward pitch of the 1100i of the combustion chamber, provide such burner zone temperature conditions as'to facili tate the steady burning of the fuel and main tain such steady burner action at even lower than the average rates (that is, with low burnerflame) and without danger of the flame being extinguished. The improved construction is adapted for any type of furiiace duty, and it is found that by modifying existing installations to embody one or more of the features of the improvements the effective capacity of the installation I may be very materially increased by virtue of the more rapid and more nearly perfect combustion which is made possible by means of the improvements and which is attended by a much lower percentage of excess air than is thecase with the'ol der designs'of construction.

'lVhile I have herein described and illustrated what I now regard as the'preferred f 1. A furnace construction comprising a combustion chamber having a-floor and ,an air feed passage beneath said chamber for conducting air from the exterior of the furnace into saidcombustion chamber, and a partition structure said passage arranged to'direct the air in a course'traversing in-v creasingly hotter portions of the underface of the floor of said combustion chamber throughout said passage to its place of discharge into said chamber.

2. A furnace construction comprising a combustion chamber havinga floor and an arch forming a fuel-feed compartment at one end of said chamber, the floor'of said chamber having a gradual downward slope from the otherend of said chamber in the direction of said fuel-feed compartment, and said arch also sloping at an inclination similar to the slope of said floor. y A furnace construction comprising a combustion chamber having a floor and a said fuel-feed compartment and returning in the direction of said compartment be-. neath the interior p'ortionof said floor and thereby subjecting the air to increasingly hotter portions of'the under face of said floor throu hout its course. throu h said b a passage to said fuel-feed compartment.

4. A furnace construction comprising a combustion chamber having a fuel-feed compartment at One end thereof, said combustion chamber having a continuous fioor sloping gradually downward from the'other end ofsaid chamber in theidirection of SEtlClken floor sloping gradually in a direction longitudinal of the furnace and from one end of said chamber to the other, and also spanning the entire distance between the said fu'elfeed compartment and the opposite end of said combustion chamber.

6. A furnace construction comprising a combustion chamber having a fuel-feed compartment at one end thereof, the bottom of said chamber comprising flooring made up of a supporting structure of sheet metaland a layer of tiling carried by said supporting structure, said tiling being spaced apartat intervals to provide drainage passageways. V

V 7 A furnace construction comprising'a combustion chamber having a fuel-feed oompartment at one end thereof, the bottom of said chamber comprising flooring made up of sections of sheet metal connected together by interengaging marginal flanges forming a liquid-tight supporting structure, and a layer of tiling carried by said supporting structure said tiling being spaced apart by said marginal flanges to provide drainage passageways. V 10 In itness whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

HARRY A. ATWVATER, 

